


single

by sunstruck (sesunmi)



Series: marching band girls [1]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Marching Band, F/F, Fem!NCT, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Marching Band, Slice of Life, marching band girlfriends markhyuck
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-21
Updated: 2020-08-21
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:48:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26022943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sesunmi/pseuds/sunstruck
Summary: “Hey, eyes up here.” Mark promptly looks up and takes the phone from Donghyuck. Donghyuck’s staring at Mark all serious-like, her other hand on her hip, but her eyes are squinty and smiling. “Perv.”“Sorry,” It comes out automatically, but she’s not sorry for looking; just embarrassed about being caught. A sheepish grin spreads across Mark’s face. “You look really cute though,” Mark argues. “And you’ve done so much worse.”(Donghyuck Lee crashes back into Mark's life with a lofty, careless flag toss.)
Relationships: Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Mark Lee
Series: marching band girls [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1904404
Comments: 12
Kudos: 80





	single

**Author's Note:**

  * For [cabbage_s](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cabbage_s/gifts).



> vy if u see this thanks for listening to me scream; aly thx for screaming with me; hayley i luv u; cab emotional support marching band buddy aha

Mark is with her section, but the journey to the field feels like a solo walk of shame. She can feel her sins (missing Saturday practice to go camping) crawling on her back. With each step taken, the heavier the weight gets. It’s foreshadowing of course, because to put it aptly, she’s fucked.

She knows what she’s missed: learning sets 12 through 18. 46 counts divided into six sets; counts of 8, 8, 8, 16, 4, 4. The music she knows, but she’s never marched these sets before. Everyone else learned their dots on Saturday, and she’s gotta learn on the fly.

Jaehyun’s talking to her. Mark’s only half listening, absentmindedly nodding as they make their way to the field.

“Man, I’m so nervous right now. ”

“Yeah, your hands are shaking.” Jaehyun’s setting his sousa down. Can he see out of the back of his head or does he just have a seventh sense? “You’ll be okay Mark. Take it as it comes.”

“’Kay,” says Mark, kicking at the turf. The plastic grass sticks to her shoes. 

By the time the drum major calls for everyone to set, Mark’s got a better grip on her breath. In, out. In, out. But that uneasy feeling is still up in her gut.

Practice has gone relatively smoothly and nothing particularly horrific has happened, but they’ll be doing a full run in a few minutes.

Mark stares at her dotsheet.

“Drink some water, Mark.” Jaehyun reminds her that this is indeed a _water_ break, and she hasn’t downed any water for a good twenty minutes. God, her throat is so dry.

Not long before swallowing a few mouthfuls, drum major Jungkook calls them to set for a full run. Mark thanks Jaehyun in her heart as she drops her water jug and ambles onto the field.

With the run so far, Mark’s squeaked out a pitchy note that made her wince and has been a bit off tempo with her steps, but she gets through it.

She’s drilled sets 13 through 15 into her head and marches them with no problem, eyes fixed on the Jungkook hands marking the tempo. 

The change away from double counts still takes her by surprise though. Mark loses her count and hastily goes through the next set. She’s definitely off her dot. Two sets to go. Just a little longer.

Then her head. Her head rings. Vibrates. It fucking resonates. A flag clatters to the ground besides her.

Her teeth grind together, and she swears. 

Just a few more seconds and the run is done. It passes by quickly, a haze filled with searing pain.

They migrate back to the music room to hang their sousas. Mark’s anxiety deflates like a fucking balloon. Her head hurts, but no more of this shit. (Or so she tells herself. She gets two days before she’s gotta deal with this again. Why did she go for another season? Oh, right. Because she’s an actual masochist and decided the suffering would be worth it.)

“Johnny says he heard swearing when he was watching filming from the bleachers. You think Director Lee heard that too?”

“Oh, definitely,” says Yeri, much to Mark’s mortification. “He hears everything. Hey, maybe we’ll even hear you in the runthrough video! You were definitely loud enough.”

Good thing it’s dark out because Mark can feel her whole face _flush_. She smacks Yeri on the back with her free arm. Yeri shrieks.

“Man, this is so embarrassing...” 

“Baby’s bad run, immortalized.”

When the runthrough video is posted later that night, it takes fifteen minutes for her to muster up the willpower to click play. 

Four minutes later, she can confirm Yeri’s words as the truth. She can hear the “fuck!” in the last ten seconds. It’s muffled, but it’s definitely there.

 _Can you not swear? It makes me uncomfy,_ she had said as a freshman. Look at her now.

She’s so glad her parents are disengaged with marching band, because seeing this...yeah, no.

**hey, mark**  
**they didn’t say anything new**  
**the band managers told us section leaders to tell you guys to just...recover and keep going and to try to be innocuous in the process**  
**i think we all know what thats about lol**

_👍_  
_the sousa made it out unscathed_  
_(unlike me hahahaha)_  
_oh to be an inanimate instrument_  
_thanks jaehyun 🙏 fr_

Honestly, Mark doesn’t think about the whole “getting beaned on the head by a guard kid’s flag” part until much later.

Much later being, well, after sousa sectionals the day after. 

“Here’s some compensation chocolate.”

The voice is girly and airish. And you know, that’s cool. Chocolate from a girl. Cute.

But then she turns around, and who does she see but Donghyuck Lee?

Donghyuck. Donghyuck, Donghyuck, Donghyuck Donghyuck Donghyuck.

Donghyuck on her mind. She couldn’t think straight then, she can’t think straight now.

And as Mark opens her mouth, she is simply not thinking. Her head is empty. She doesn’t know what to say.

“Chocolate is gross,” she manages.

“Excuse you! I’ll be taking these kisses back then.”

She flushes red, ears warm, and then realizes. “Oh, you were talking about the chocolate, okay. I thought-- well,”

“It’s not as I haven’t smooched you before,” Donghyuck snorts, shaking her head. “It’s been a while, Mark Lee.”

“Donghyuck,” she’s at a loss for words. 

“That’s me.”

 _Shut up_ , Mark thinks. _Shut up_.

Donghyuck scratches her head and shrugs. “The compensation chocolates would definitely melt under the sun, and you don’t like chocolate anyways. So I’ll be taking you out on a boba date instead! And we can, you know, catch up and shit.”

It sounds nice. It really, truly does. And Mark’s brain is fucking fried. So she stutters eloquently. “Shit, yeah, okay.” She hates how her voice gets breathier with each consecutive word. “Yeah, that sounds great.”

The way Donghyuck giggles and grins as Mark hands over her phone makes Mark so, so warm. She scrunches her face as she’s typing in her contact info. They’re out under the sun, and Donghyuck glows. She’s so, so pretty. Her bronze skin, the way her eyelashes fan out, her soft nose, the curve of her lip. She looks so pretty that it’s unfair. 

Yeah, she’s definitely staring. So what? Mark can’t find it in herself to feel guilty, not when Donghyuck’s so, so fucking pretty. She hasn’t seen this girl in four years. This girl terrorized her during her elementary years and bonked her on the head just the other day. So Mark lets herself stare and take it all in.

“Hey, eyes up here.” Mark promptly looks up and takes the phone from Donghyuck. Donghyuck’s staring at Mark all serious-like, her other hand on her hip, but her eyes are squinty and smiling. “Perv.”

“Sorry,” It comes out automatically, but she’s not sorry for looking; just embarrassed about being caught. A sheepish grin spreads across Mark’s face. “You look really cute though,” Mark argues. _And there was the time you groped me when I was 10, so it’s deserved._ “And you’ve done so much worse.”

Shaken out of her skin and spilling out the sides, soul foaming and scattered, a nebulous cloud that gives birth to a newborn star. That’s what Mark feels.

When she bursts into giggles, so does Donghyuck. The sound makes her feel lightheaded and deliciously warm.

_:)_

**:0**

_hiiii this is mark_

**omg ur a hiii girl**  
**cute**  
**dh lee here**  
**do you wanna go to gongcha after 7th period**

_my last period is 6th so i leave school early :(_  
_what if we just meet up at gongcha and hang around_  
_does friday at 4 work for you_

**sounds good!!**  
**are u any good at 8ball**

_no :(_

Mark clutches her phone to her heart and presses her lips together. Warmth blooms in her chest. 

3:58 pm

Mark slides her phone back into her pocket. She’s probably checked the time thrice in the last minute.

God, Mark is vibrating out of her skin, and Donghyuck hasn’t even arrived.

Spring Day plays in the background. It’s got a smooth, comforting lull. Mark swings her feet to the song slowly, her face resting on the palm of her right hand. 

Donghyuck walks in. When she spots Mark, she quirks an eyebrow before her mouth splits into a smile. 

It’s infectious. Mark smiles back gently, a little nervous, but very much happy. As Donghyuck sits down next to her, she reaches out for Mark’s shoulders and pulls her into a tight embrace, like she did when they were 9. Well, 8 and 9, respectively.

9 year old Mark would have squirmed and whined, but now she’s just content to soak up the skinship. 

“You got boba without me, I see,” Donghyuck says. She wiggles her butt, prompting Mark to make room. “Scooch. I need wiggle room.”

There it is. Donghyuck’s manspreading, hogging all the space. “You’re hogging all the space,” Mark snorts as she sips her drink. She looks at the way Hyuck’s legs dangle leisurely while spread apart, and her monkey brain says _pretty legs. Hot._

Mark’s parents taught her to sit like a lady. Close your legs together— get your feet off the chair. Girls don’t sit like that. 

Donghyuck refuses to sit like that. When Mark would ask her to close her legs, she would stretch her legs out even more to spite Mark. She had found Donghyuck infuriating. Everything about Donghyuck shook her up.

When she looks back up, Donghyuck’s looking right at her. “It’s comfortable,” Donghyuck shrugs. “What about it?”

And Mark finds that so very Donghyuck, and finds herself so fond. “It’s cute,” she says easily, because it’s the truth.

“Thanks,” Donghyuck grumbles. She makes grabby hands towards Mark expectantly. Mark hands her tea over, and Donghyuck takes a big, long sip before continuing. “You know, this was supposed to be on me. My treat. I bonked you on the head and all.”

“And here you are, drinking my boba. Well, you can always treat me next time then.” Donghyuck pouts, and Mark rolls her eyes. Her heart flutters when Donghyuck’s lack of objection registers and she smiles, satiated. “Get yourself a drink, Hyuck. We can catch up as we walk down to Rainbow Park.”

Marching band practice is shit. Three days a week, Mark is reminded of this.

On the weekdays, sometimes it’s so cold she can’t feel her fingers. On the weekend, the metal hot to touch, the air mirages halfway across the field, and the disgusting humidity.

A bunch of teenagers who willingly expose themselves to this? They’re absolutely nuts. Nuts. Fucking nuts.

There’s a shared camaraderie among these nutheads though.

When San brought gallon jugs of Arizona Green Tea to share. (Under the sun for far too long...by the time Mark drank it, it was piss warm, but hey, it’s the thought that counts.)

They celebrate birthdays and shit, burst into song, joke about how they’re going to march to BTS songs next season (the incoming freshmen had elected to perform Mic Drop, so…..)

That’s the sort of shit Mark loves. It’s the reason why Mark stays. The people.

The people are fucking awesome.

She’s reminded of that on her birthday, when the band’s playing happy birthday swankily. She feels greasy, gross as hell, legs jelly weak, and so, so, so happy. People rush up to her after practice, late at night, to clap her on the back and give her their individual wishes. The sousa section stays back. Mark doesn’t cry, but it’s a close case.

On behalf of the whole section, Jaehyun gifts her those tiny safeway cupcakes. Her whole section stays behind on the field to eat them.

By the time Mark’s gotten all her stuff back in the music room, it’s nearly nine. The lights will go out in a minute, and Mark prepares to venture home through the dark.

Donghyuck pulls her aside though, and her little plan goes flying out the window. 

“Donghyuck? You could have left ages ago.” This is a fact. Mark knows this. Why is Donghyuck still here? How long has she been here?

“I know, yeah yeah.” Donghyuck flourishes her hand. “I was helping the pit. You know how it is with them.”

“They take long, but they don’t take _that_ long,” Mark admonishes, but then Donghyuck brings a finger to her lips and she grows quiet.

“The lights are gonna go out soon, Mark. Let’s go.”

Their houses go in opposite directions, but Donghyuck walks Mark home anyways. When they stop in front of Mark’s dimly lit driveway, she pulls Mark into a tight hug. 

“I was gonna kiss you.” Donghyuck’s voice is raspy and hushed. Mark holds her breath. “But then I was like, that’s kind of a shit birthday gift. Happy birthday, Mark.”

“I don’t mind,” Mark says quietly. She can feel her heartbeat in her ears, and wonders if Donghyuck can feel it too.

Donghyuck doesn’t quite laugh, but her eyes are happily squinty. “Oho, Mark Lee! Your wish is my command.” 

She stares Mark in the eyes for a few moments before pulling her in for a wet smooch on the cheek.

Mark shrieks and Donghyuck giggles, happy and light. Under the dim driveway lights, she looks so ethereal. Mark doesn’t want to look away.

“Bye, Hyuck,” she says, touching her cheek. “Thanks for taking me home.”

As she shuffles into her house, her chest is tight, and she takes slow breaths to calm her racing heart. 

“Fucking tease,” Mark grumbles to herself.

“Donghyuck,” Mark prods. “Donghyuck.”

“What’s up?”

Mark’s mouth goes dry. Donghyuck probably isn’t going to say no—both of them have a bit of a problem saying no to each other. Asking is still nerve wracking though.

“I don’t know if guard is doing anything after the show,” she starts. That’s a fucking lie, and they both know it. Donghyuck’s lips quirk up, so Mark continues. “But do you wanna grab pho with me? The rest of the sousas will be there too.”

When Mark gathers her bearings and looks up, Donghyuck is beaming her megawatt smile rivals the sun. She looks away again.

“Mark,” Donghyuck croons, eyes wrinkling. “Mark, I would love to.”

Hours later, over pho and boba, Mark learns that Donghyuck gets along with her section like a house on fire. They stay there past midnight, talking animatedly about anything and everything, and when they’re finally kicked out, Mark’s mom drives them both home.

Donghyuck becomes an honorary sousa after that, invitation to their hangouts extended and unsaid.

They place third at the regional BoA competition, and it’s fucking surreal. When their placing is announced, Mark is in fucking shellshock. In her periphery, Jaehyun is gaping. His eyes are shiny, like he’s about to cry. Actually, he probably is. Bowing out his last season on a good note.

What happens after, when everyone can step out of position? 

People freaking out.

Lots of screaming, shrieking, and swearing.

She sees a guard girl reach into her uniform bra and pull out her phone and thinks _huh. Gotta check instagram later._

It just...passes by in this surreal daze. Pictures, pictures. Everyone’s taking pictures. Photobomb someone’s selfie. The band photo with the trophy, and a selfie with your section, a selfie with your friends. The energy is a current, and Mark finds herself swept up in it.

They’re noisy teenagers on an adrenaline high, out on a freezing cold field late at night. 

Everyone loads back on the bus, but the mood isn’t dampened. Someone blasts their Spotify playlist through a speaker, and it resonates through the whole bus. 

As Mariah Carey belts the first few notes of her Christmas song, the whole bus is silent for just a moment. Then they’re breaking out in song, crooning along with her. Some people are screaming out the lyrics, while Donghyuck and Mark croon along. Mark’s cheeks hurt from smiling so wide, and her throat is dry as hell, but she can’t bring herself to give a fuck. Donghyuck is sitting right beside her. She feels like she’s on top of the world.

As the song fades, the bus driver makes an announcement over the bus speakers. “If you’re going to sing, sing properly,” he grimes, all ornery. Half the bus doubles over in laughter, and it makes Donghyuck wheeze. Mark is so, so endeared.

Soon enough, people lose interest. Some people hunker down to take naps, but for the most part, the bus is very much abuzz and alive.

As for Mark? Mark is wide awake, heart beating in her chest. She’s got Donghyuck’s other earphone and they’re listening to Taylor Swift together and humming along.

Donghyuck’s hand finds hers, and she squeezes it. They look at each other, and Mark thinks she’s never felt more content in her life. 

Mark thinks of herself as a shell. Different people, different aspects of her life: God, her parents, music, school; like colored clay, they fill her up and bring color to her life. They make her something whole.

Donghyuck is crimson. She buried her way in Mark’s heart, terrorizing her at the tender age of five, chasing Mark around with hands slimy with spit. The antithesis to what Mark’s parents wanted Mark to be, and utterly unapologetic about it. She shook up Mark’s world.

Donghyuck’s spot in her life has been empty for three years— the clay wrenched from her body, but she was in Mark’s life so long that her color had bled into Mark, her heart stained red.

And here she is now. She’s sitting next to her, and Mark feels like her insides will squirm and squish to make room for Donghyuck to crawl into her body. Her hummingbird heart hammers so hard she thinks she could die. She’s scared.

But Mark trusts Donghyuck with her heart, so when Donghyuck kisses her, under the purple lights of the bus and around all these adrenaline drunk teenagers, Mark melts into her embrace and smiles.

**Author's Note:**

> [cc](https://curiouscat.me/sesunmi)   
>  [twt](https://twitter.com/sesunmii)
> 
> say hi!


End file.
